NPC/PM Behavior, tactics, leveling, ect...

[nefarious]

I've read here and there about how supposedly the more you fight with your NPC/PM the better it fights, it'll become more aggresive/smart.

True?

What are good ways to speed this up? Does letting them get the killing blow help? Do they in some way gain EXP?


How can I best make use of my PM/NPC?


I've just got a basic striking PM, and the beast/hunter NPC guy.

[BlueFire2k5]

On 2006-12-14 23:25, nefarious wrote:
I've read here and there about how supposedly the more you fight with your NPC/PM the better it fights, it'll become more aggresive/smart.

True?

What are good ways to speed this up? Does letting them get the killing blow help? Do they in some way gain EXP?


How can I best make use of my PM/NPC?


I've just got a basic striking PM, and the beast/hunter NPC guy.






*Shrug* People say it's supposed to make them smarter, but I haven't noticed much different about my PM that's about battle level 25.

Also, the only thing that levels this stat up is getting the final ranks on missions. No matter what mission, an S rank will always level it up a set amount (~25% of a bar). Therefore, the most efficient way of leveling it up is to just run through level 1 Unsafe Passage and S rank it.

[BlueFire2k5]

On 2006-12-14 23:30, nefarious wrote:
=o

Sweet.

So, what's the cap? 100?





As far as I know, yes.

[nefarious]

=o

Sweet.

So, what's the cap? 100?

[BigSword]

I'm starting to personally think that the PM battle ability levels mean about as much as the synth percentages ... squat. My 410 used to stand and change her weapon from time to time. Now she runs around like a complete idiot before doing this. The higher her level, the longer she runs around like a goon.

[Neith]

Ive noticed my 430 get a little smarter, (B St 9).

At Lv0, she would strafe around a lot, and hardly ever actually shoot. Now she seems to strafe a little less, and shoot more. I'm guessing though that since B St goes to 100, it could take a while before you notice a difference.

[Chaobo99]

My GH-430(my pride and joy http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/anime1.gif) is at a woping BT stat 34 and man does she have fast reflexes..when an enemy gets behind her..BAM she shoot and the enemy flinches and she strafes away..big big big improvement since the only strafe and talk thing

[VanHalen]

i noticed on extra mode(cant get online yet TT_TT) every lvl the 430 goes up shes strafes a little less and shoots a little more right now shes ant B stat 2 but i do see a little bit of a difference(except for the one time when she did that impossible circle strafe with her back facing the enemy how come i cant do that lol)


EDIT: i've also noticed my PM put me to shame one day by out damaging me like 145 a shot while i did 50s and 80s with swords, and sabers, and every other weapon you can think of


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VanHalen on 2006-12-15 21:38 ]</font>

[AeraLure]

My 420 is almost B St 70. She is definitely more responsive and definitely faster in switching a weapon and making a move. She used to stand there and take hits and just wait a while to get combat started. She also now fires off PAs more frequently until she seems to tire out and there will be a pause then she will resume. She kills minibosses before I can even hit them on occasion if I am not careful. She also makes much better battle decisions in terms of the angle to take at a foe when she is moving to and from targets (I'm thinking Vanda here or the like - she is very careful to take these from behind or on the sides almost always where she used to go frontal more often).

A point to make though: she's responsive to your movement in my experience. You can pretty much guide her to move to the target you want and then support her as she attacks. Basically stay in motion and position a mob or your target enemy between her and you. This will get her into agressive mode and she'll attack that almost instantly. Support her and then change targets and it goes down fast and she'll range and seek a new target (yours or the one closest tot he one she killed, depending) and stay offensive. If you just stand off and fire a rifle, she'll stand off too or take a frontal line and take all kinds of unnecessary hits, if she even attacks. If you havent moved once she finishes a frontal assault like that she is very likely to simply come wandering on back to you.

Keep her aggressive and keep things in between you and her because combat in her mind seems to end if there is no enemy between you and her and you are closer to her than a target - though this is admittedly useful too at times if you would like her to withdraw so you can regroup, heal her, keep her out of range for a minute etc. Its not always reliable getting her to withdraw though if she is embedded within a mob, as at higher B St she will stay aggressive for a time and keep attacking a new target until the immediate few around her are finished. Its just useful to keep in mind.

Depending on her combat level, the range out she'll go to seek a target once she finishes one increases it seems, as does her comfort level with how far away from you she is and how long she'll stay on a target out there. Its like she is on a rubber band. In mobs its important to be aware of her reactions to your distance from her and move to place enemies in between you and her to get her to move where you'd like (in the case of Vanda crossfires let's say), or to leave a target and come to another one.

I guess my point is in my experience anyway that you cant simply hold your ground and expect her to run in and make decent choices. Never seems to happen. Things she definitely improves on are frequency of PA use and combos, weapon switch speed, range and angles of attack it would seem, though this last thing may just be me manipulating her rubber band-like responses. Important to note that on at least that point, you have quite a large say in her movements and the AI seems only minimally to cover that with sort of near-far pulls.

No matter what level she is too, the easier way to get her aggressive is not to run up frontal into melee range but rather to tag things and then position yourself with the mob in between you and her and go from there. As you range your movements from this vantage point, she will respond by switching to the target next nearest you usually, or she will stay where she is and work on the next immediate one to her and you can encourage one or the other action depending on how you move closer or further away, or to the sides. If you support her target, she will finish it. If you engage another, its a bit more variable, but depending on range she may come off of hers and come to attack yours.

Maybe this is common sense and everyone is doing that, but when I do that I find no real reason to call her dumb as bricks by any stretch. The AI maybe isnt smart either, but you can definitely make use of her tendencies and keep her active. She helps make runs go really fast and keeps them fun and interesting, hardly ever causing me any trouble to keep her alive or even give it a second thought really. Just have to be aware of where she is and where I'd like her to be. Have to heal her on occasion too certainly, depending on where I took her.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: AeraLure on 2006-12-17 14:04 ]</font>